


A Lily By Any Other Name

by delphia2000



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe
Genre: Gen, Spoilers!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-18
Updated: 2012-06-18
Packaged: 2017-11-08 01:30:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/437649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delphia2000/pseuds/delphia2000
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is one of those post-movie fixes that will undoubtedly made moot by the next movie. Please be aware, SPOILERS abound. Proceed at your own risk.</p><p>Doctor Banner finds something, fixes something and worries a lot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Lily By Any Other Name

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to the mad-beta-skillz of aelfgyfu_mead! Thank you for being faster than a speeding bullet and more grammatical than a locomotive.

“I’ll run these right away, Dr. Banner.”

The SHIELD lab tech was young, pretty and had a professional demeanor. That didn’t mean she wasn’t internally cringing from him, waiting for him to go on a rampage, Bruce thought. She might just be hiding it well. Resisting the urge to assure her or to even flirt with her--he was no Stark, after all, and she did look very young--he said, “I’d like to wait, if you don’t mind. They are critical and I can’t go on without the results. Do you have a quiet place where I could meditate for a while?”

She looked pensive for a second and then said, “Sure. You can use one of the empty rooms. Let me show to you to one.” 

As they walked down the hall, Bruce said conversationally, “It’s so much quieter down here than my lab or I wouldn’t be bothering you.”

“No bother, Doctor.”

Her smile seemed genuine as she stopped at an open door and indicated he could go in. Maybe she wasn’t afraid of him after all. Foolish girl.

“I’ll be back in about half an hour. We should have results by then,” she promised as he entered the dimly lit room.

He could hear her footsteps echoing down the hall as he kicked off his shoes and climbed onto the hospital bed. The medical wing was far quieter than his lab here on the Helicarrier as it hadn’t suffered any damage. It was also quieter because it had been almost six weeks since the incident and most of the people he helped put into rooms here were healed and gone.

Too bad that he’d messed up his own lab so badly. At least he wasn’t as responsible as Loki was for as much damage to the Helicarrier as a whole. However, Loki probably hadn’t given it any further thought while Bruce had wasted far too much time regretting things he couldn’t have controlled. It was the Other Guy’s fault.

He’d been beating himself up fairly well over it all until one evening when he’d come upon Agent Barton watching the sun set from the deck of the carrier, legs dangling over the damaged section that had just been abandoned by the day workers. Bruce recognized the look in man’s eyes. Hell, he’d seen it too many times in the mirror. He sat down next to him. They shared a miserable guilty silence for a while, until full dark made talking easier. Later, they had raided Stark’s room and liberated a bottle of something that hadn’t really helped, but it had seemed like a good idea at the time.

In the morning, they had banging mutual hangovers in common too.

He’d stayed on in his lab here because what he was doing just didn’t seem safe enough to be messing with at the SHIELD HQ lab. They were isolated out here on this private island that SHIELD used as a dry-dock for their ship. Fewer people and things that could be hurt if he made a mistake.

Bruce pushed away all conscious thought and opened himself to the peace of deep mediation. 

Then he heard footsteps again. This time, they were coming from the other direction of the labs, from deeper within the hospital area. Two sets, one lighter. “Will my Daddy wake up soon?” asked a small voice.

Bruce found himself coming to full awareness. A child. Someone who’d been hurt had a child. How odd they had brought her here to visit. He was sure it was a girl, from the sound of her voice. Had he been directly responsible for a child missing a father?

All the guilt he’d been pushing away washed over him. Damn.

Whoever was with the child was talking so quietly, he couldn’t discern what was said. Damn it. He was a doctor. Maybe he could do something. The sounds of their passing grew fainter.

Bruce climbed off the bed quietly and slipped back into his shoes before moving out into the hallway. The other end led to an intensive care unit, he was sure. He moved silently to the corner and peered around it. There was only one unit that he could see that seemed to be in use. He was contemplating all the things he could do to distract the nurse on duty, when she answered a phone and then moved away from her desk to enter what looked to be a supply closet.

He moved swiftly and quietly past the desk and into the dimly lit room. A man lay in the bed, unmoving, hooked to a startling number of machines, most of which Bruce wasn’t familiar with. Apparently, SHIELD had access to things even he didn’t know about. As he stepped forward to take up the tablet that was attached to the foot of the bed, he looked at the man’s face, instantly recognizing him.

Damn you, Nick Fury, he thought and he tamped down hard on his rage. Letting the Other Guy loose right now would serve nothing and no one. After a few seconds of tight-fisted fighting for control, Bruce finally breathed deeply and took up the tablet to check on the condition of Agent Phil Coulson.

Well, maybe Fury had been right to keep this from them, he thought, after looking over the information at his fingertips. He swiped page after page, showing Coulson was on full life-support, with only minimal brain activity. He wasn’t exactly alive, but he wasn’t exactly dead either.

And, apparently, he had a young daughter.

Bruce put the tablet back in place. He still wanted to pound on Fury a bit. His next thought was that the team they’d formed all had varying degrees of concern regarding Coulson. Tasha and Barton had worked with him the longest and had been the ones to organize a memorial service for him. Thor said that Coulson had not appeared in the Warriors Hall in Valhalla and had offered to go to Hel to see if he was there and could be ransomed out. Jane had gently suggested that since Phil had not been Norse it was unlikely he’d be there anyway. Even Stark had been uncharacteristically subdued at the memorial. They deserved to know what was going on, even if it did look like a lost cause.

And, now that he thought about it, Fury had suggested the memorial, saying that an actual funeral would be family members only and the appearance of the Avengers as they were now called, would have turned it into a media circus.

Or maybe Fury figured his top Agent was not going to live and it was better this way, thinking he’d died in battle. 

He didn’t have time to think about it anymore as a voice rang out: “What are you doing in here?”

He turned to face the duty nurse with a guilty smile. “Sorry, I was just checking up on a friend.”

“Oh, Dr. Banner. I didn’t know it was you. I didn’t think the Director had authorized…”

“He didn’t. I found out on my own. And I understand why he hasn’t said anything now.”

She nodded with a sad look on her face. “There’s always hope. They brought in his daughter to talk to him today, thinking maybe he’d respond.”

She shook her head at his questioning look. “Well, I should probably be going anyway. I’m waiting for some lab results,” he explained. She stayed behind to check some of the tech as he left, going back to the room where he’d been waiting.

No doubt, his visit would show up in some report, somewhere. He figured he had maybe a day at best before Fury would be in his lab with explanations and a little indignant ‘it wasn’t your business’ thrown in for good measure. Standing in the dim room again, he took out a small cell phone that Stark had given each one of them. It was supposed to be secure, but he wouldn’t have put it past Fury to have hacked it already. Typing quickly, he sent the message.

Avengers Assemble.

~***~  
Hawkeye met him in his lab. “Give me a clue? Bad?”

Bruce shook his head. “Not bad, per se. Not good, exactly.”

“But urgent?” 

“I think so.”

Barton nodded and jumped up to sit on an empty table after pulling out his StarkPhone. Looking at it, he said, “Tasha is bringing Cap in a chopper. Stark is pacing her in his tin can.”

“What about Thor?”

There was a rumble from the doorway. “I am here, my friends.”

The God of Thunder strode into the room with Jane trailing him.

“Damn! Reception that good in Asgard?” asked Hawkeye, flipping his phone around as if juggling a ball.

“Nay, good friend. The mighty Heimdall sees all. He alerted us of your need.”

“He wouldn’t tell us why, though,” Jane said. “New threat to Earth?”

Bruce shook his head. “I just need to talk to all of you at once, okay? Quietly. Sort of.”

“So without Fury knowing then?” asked Clint.

Bruce just smiled wryly. There was no doubt in his mind that Fury already knew that something was up if Tasha had taken a helicopter. They’d have to decide what to do quickly, if they could do anything at all.

Clint went off in search of some chairs and drinks as Bruce moved them from the lab to his windowless office. It was small, but private at least.

They didn’t have too long to wait for the rest of the group. “This better be good, Banner,” Tony grumbled. “I had to order major flowers to apologize to Pepper for missing yet another charity event.”

“Stop poking the hairy beast, Stark. He’ll go green and stomp you in a greasy spot on the floor,” Hawkeye said. “Let the man talk.”

They all turned expectantly to Bruce. He cleared his throat and put down the bottle of water he’d been holding. “Um, please, sit. I think you’ll want to be sitting down for this.”

~***~

They walked into the ICU hallway as a group, but it was Natasha who moved to the fore to face the nurse who’d leapt from her seat to confront them. It was a silent stare-down and then the woman backed away and let them pass. “I’m calling the Director,” she threatened to their backs.

Tony snarled at her over his shoulder. “You do that. We’d like to have some words with him.”

They’d been silent when Bruce told his story. He had explained what he’d read on the reports, but they all agreed they needed to see for themselves, so he led the group down through the maze of hallways to the ICU.

Jane was the first to speak, moving to his bedside to hold the limp hand in hers. “Can he hear us?” she asked Bruce.

“There’s no way to tell.”

“We should be here with him,” Tasha said.

Bruce glanced at her, noting her eyes reflected some extra moisture. “They brought in his daughter to talk to him. I would think if he was going to wake, it would have been for her.”

“Wait? He’s got a daughter?” Stark sounded incredulous. “Since when is he allowed to have a private life if none of us get to have one?”

Rogers reached over and cuffed him on the back of the head. “Shut up, Stark. You’re the one who likes to do everything in public, remember? You haven’t chosen to have a private life.”

Stark stared at him. “Ow,” he said, belatedly.

“Hallway,” Steve said suddenly, indicating they should all move out of the room. He closed the door behind them. 

“Security is on their way,” said the nurse. 

Tony laughed. “We tremble.”

She pushed past him to go into the room with Coulson and Steve closed the door behind her again. 

“If he can hear in that coma, I don’t want him to hear all this,” Steve explained. “Bruce, what are his chances, really?”

Bruce shrugged. He wished he had something positive he could tell them. Instead, he could only repeat himself. “There’s no way to tell.”

“Is there anything we can do?” asked Tasha.

“Maybe talking to him, spending time with him. They are doing all that I can see and knowing SHIELD, they have the best. He could wake up at any time; he could die at any time; he could stay like this until he dies of old age. Or until some new treatment comes along. And even if he wakes, well…there’s no telling how much damage was done.”

Stark pounded his fist on the nurse’s station. “Fury lied to us,” he snarled.

“Not really,” Bruce told them. “He was dead. They put him on life support immediately and shocked his heart back into rhythm, but he was technically dead. He’s been through surgery to repair damage and they’ve pumped countless units of blood into him. With as much support as he’s still on, and so little brain activity, he’s not really alive either.”

“Fury exaggerated the situation then,” Steve pointed out.

Bruce nodded in agreement. “He did it to get us to work together,” said Tasha. “He needed us to be a team. Earth needed us.”

“The ends do not always justify the means,” said Jane.

“Maybe not, but he was right about the end result,” said Barton. “And right now, I’ve been so manipulated lately, I don’t give a damn how or why. Coulson is still alive as far as I’m concerned and I’d like him to stay that way. And I’m willing to do whatever.”

“So, we take turns sitting with him,” said Tasha. “I’ll go first. And Dr. Banner, maybe you can check around and see if there are any experimental treatments to try?”

“Good idea. I can make some calls,” he said. 

The security detail arrived just then, running around the corner and skidding to a full stop. “Uh, we thought…there were supposed to be intruders…”

“That would be us,” Tony said, smiling in a way that really wasn’t very nice, Bruce thought. 

“And we were just leaving,” he told them, hoping to hold off a confrontation that was certain to end badly for the detail and possibly worse for the team once Fury arrived. Tasha went back into the room to take up her post.

As they walked past the somewhat confused and intimidated security detail, Hawkeye told them, “We’ll be in Dr. Banner’s lab when the Director arrives.”

Bruce noticed Jane and Thor trailing behind, deep in conversation. They waited until they got back into the office before Jane spoke up. “We have an idea. There are some things in Asgard that we think may help.”

“One of my mother’s handmaidens, Eir holds the gift of healing. She may be able to aid us. I will return to Asgard and have speech with her,” Thor said. 

“Thank you, Thor,” said Bruce.

The rest of the group echoed their thanks. After he left, Jane wandered out to Bruce’s lab to look over his work while Clint went off to take a meal to Tasha. Tony, Steve and Bruce sat down to work up a list of doctors and medical institutions to call, before breaking up, each with a list of names to contact.

“Steve,” Bruce called as he and Tony were leaving. 

Steve hung back and closed the door. 

Bruce continued, “Maybe you can arrange to be next to Tony when Fury shows up. Hold him back? We don’t need bloodshed over this.”

Steve cracked a smile. “Won’t be necessary. I’ve seen the Director sparring with Tasha. Tony would need his suit to take him and maybe not even then.”

Bruce smiled back at him wearily. “Okay, if you think so. You know, I really don’t blame him. I was angry at first, but could still understand why he did it. We were a mess.”

“We still are. It’s getting better, but we have a way to go yet.”

“You mean me. The Other Guy.”

Steve shook his head. “I think he’s just scared. You were able to bring him out and set him on the right path to help us when we needed him. You may never be rid of him, but I think the day will come when you and he can work together better. On the other hand, Lord knows if we’ll ever get Tony Stark under control. Sometimes he makes the Hulk look easy.”

Scared. It had never occurred to him. “Thanks, Steve. You’re a hell of a guy, you know.”

“Tony thinks I’m too serious.”

“In that case, let’s short-sheet his bunk tonight.”

~***~

Thor arrived at the same time as Fury. They both looked grim as they gathered once again in Bruce’s office. Tasha had traded off with Clint and Bruce was scheduled to sit vigil next. It was well after dinnertime and he found sleep difficult on most nights anyway. Bruce noted that Stark had set his phone on the desk, most likely to let Barton see what was going on. 

“I won’t be apologizing for my actions,” Fury started.

“There’s a shocker,” said Tony.

Steve cuffed him into silence again. “Go on, Director,” he said.

“I will not apologize for hurting anyone’s feelings either. You are in charge of those, not me,” he continued. “I will not apologize for using you all to save Earth. I found the alternative was unacceptable, as I’m sure you all did or you would not have responded the way you did. Sometimes, it’s any means necessary and I don’t lose sleep over it. However, I will apologize for not letting you in on what was happening afterwards, when it was all over. I wanted to have something definite to tell you and I didn’t think it would take this long. I knew you’d have to be told eventually and was hoping something would have happened before this.”

“You should have told us right after we sent Loki home,” Tony said.

“I was in the middle of one of the biggest messes in the history of Earth, in case you didn’t notice, Mr. Stark,” Fury said, bringing all his attention on the loudest of the squeaky wheels in all of his organization. “I not only had the President of the USA chewing my backside, I had the entire World Security Council to answer to. And clean-up on a level never seen before. Too many casualties. Too much to do. Entire cult groups have committed mass suicides over this. You all needed to be out there, assuring the public we can defend ourselves. We are still picking up the pieces, Mr. Stark. You know, that stuff you leave to your minions to deal with.”

He’d been leaning over Bruce’s desk, snarling at Stark through his speech, but he stopped and straightened up and looked carefully at each of them, one at a time as he continued. “And my closest friend, the man would I thought would one day take over this job, was lying in a bed, depending on machines for his very life. I agree, I wasn’t thinking about any of you. But we are stuck with each other and I will do what I think is the right thing for the majority. And not making Phil’s situation public is the best I can do for his dignity while doing the best I can for his medical needs. Speaking of which, Dr. Banner, I take it you’ve been looking into what else can be done?”

Bruce nodded. “He has the most advanced medical care to my knowledge. I can’t see anything else we can do beyond what we are doing now…being there with him and letting him know we care and want him back. However, we had been pursuing some…let’s call it alternative medicine. Thor?”

Thor straightened up from the affected slouch he’d taken to listen to Fury. “I have spoken with the Lady Eir. She is reluctant to meddle in human affairs, especially for one who is not one of our believers. She did say that the means were already at our disposal and that the blood of the innocent would open many doors. I confess, I did not understand her words, but it is our way to speak in a manner not so direct as to make the journey easy. Things that are easy are not of much value.”

“Yeah, that’s real helpful,” said Tony. “You explained that we’re over the human sacrifice sort of thing these days?”

“I do not believe that is what she intended.”

They were all silent for a minute, each lost in thought. Finally, Steve spoke up. “Tony says I’m innocent.”

“I said you were naive. That’s not the same thing.”

“It might be, to an Asgard,” Steve insisted. “Dr. Banner, could you look into the testing SHIELD has been doing with my blood?”

“I can if the Director approves it,” Bruce said, “but there is another innocent in the group.”

They were staring at him and he could see it dawn in Tasha and Tony’s eyes. Fury got it too. “It’s going to be a bit hard to get him to give us a blood sample,” Tony said.

“We’ve had a few samples. Smears, mostly, but there is some work done. I’ll authorize it all to you, Doctor,” Fury said. “Now, unless any of you wish to meet me in the gym to work out your frustrations with me? No? Good. Let’s plan on talking about this tomorrow at the Doctor’s convenience. I have work to do.”

~**~

Bruce sighed and rubbed his eyes as he leaned his head back on the chair. Someone had found one of those big hospital chairs that could recline into a bed, but he hadn’t dared set it too far back for fear of dropping off to sleep. He had the music low and the light was still dim, making it easier for him to read the tablet that was loaded with all the testing results of the blood work he’d done on himself and that of SHIELD on Cap and the Hulk’s blood. 

It looked promising to him. He just didn’t know how they were going to manage to do what needed to be done.

It was Tony’s turn next in the chair, but it was Fury who showed up. “I could use some time with him,” Nick said quietly. “Besides, Tony was all tuckered out from sparring with Rogers after he found out it about the bunk sheets. Little juvenile, don’t you think?”

Bruce laughed quietly. “Steve confessed?”

“With great relish.”

Banner got up and let Nick sit down. He turned to leave, but stopped and turned back to the Director. “Does he have other family besides the little girl?”

Fury shook his head. “Spouse and another adopted child died in a car accident. They got Mo from Darfur and Lily from Tibet. Most SHIELD agents don’t have families. That’s one criterion for choosing field agents. He begged me not to retire him when he got married. I should have. This wouldn’t have happened.”

“Who’s taking care of her now?”

“He had a full time nanny. Retired SHIELD agent as a matter of fact. She’s good and Lily is well cared for. Will always be well cared for.”

“How is she taking this?”

Fury shrugged. “I get reports. I’ve only been to see her once and she was taking it like a six-year old who lost one parent and doesn’t get to see the other often enough. She thinks of her father as being in the repair shop and that he will come home eventually.”

“If she can take it, I’d like to see her visit him more often. The brain wave activity spikes when she’s here. It’s the most promising thing I’ve seen so far in all this information.”

Fury nodded. “I’ll arrange it. And the blood work?”

Banner shrugged, not wanting to promise more than he could. “I’m still looking, but I’m seeing possibilities. I want to run another test or two first.”

Nick reached out to take his hand. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll let you know as soon as I’m ready with anything.”

As he left, he glanced back to see Nick reaching for Coulson’s hand. Nick could inspire action and fear and anger, but Agent Coulson had calmly gone about doing what needed to be done and he’d won the loyalty of the Avengers by just being himself. They each owed him, one way or another.

~***~

“Well?”

“It works on the rats. They aren’t people.”

Steve poked gently at the rat Bruce held. “Does it…?”

Bruce shook his head. “No superpowers. At least, not as far as I can tell. But it was dead and now it’s alive.”

“But it will take both of us?” Steve asked gently.

Bruce nodded. “Your blood was designed to deliver the serum and then feed it. If we just take your blood, the minute it goes into a vial, the serum converts and is gone. It was meant to keep it out of enemy hands. Your blood will have to go directly into the vein on as short a tube as we can manage. The Other Guy’s blood, we have to collect and then remove some of the more toxic elements. We inject what’s left at the same time we hook you up and we should get results. Hulk blood will act as the radiation did to produce some of the super soldier effects, but without any permanence. It should be enough to heal him.”

“But your blood won’t work?”

Bruce shook his head.

“Oh boy.”

“That’s putting it mildly.”

“We need to come up with a plan,” said Steve. “Let’s call in the rest of the group.”

~***~

“It’s a plan…it’s just not a good one,” insisted Jane.

“He cannot harm me, Jane,” Thor said. “At least, not permanently.”

“That cell didn’t hold you for very long. How is it going to hold him?”

“I’ve made some improvements,” said Stark, “and while it still may not hold him forever, I’m pretty sure it will hold him long enough to do what we need to do.”

“Thor doesn’t know a thing about setting a needle in a vein,” said Jane.

“Dr. Banner has showed me what to do. I am the best choice, Jane. I promise, I will not let him harm me, nor will I harm him.”

“What about drugging him?” asked Hawkeye.

“That will just return me to my current state,” said Bruce. “Besides, we can’t risk contaminating the blood with drugs. There’s no telling what could happen and I can’t run more tests without obtaining more of the Other Guy’s blood, so we’re right back where we started.”

“You have had some success with controlling the Hulk,” noted Steve. “He listened to me when we needed him in battle.”

Bruce nodded. “I’m hoping that if I keep our needs in mind when I release him, he will cooperate, at least long enough to get a good amount.”

Hawkeye stood up. “Then what are we waiting for?”

“I’m ready. Or I will be as soon as I get to my room and find my Hulk pants. I hate it when I wake up naked and alone. Oh, and Hawkeye, maybe get a couple of your tranq arrows, for after we get the blood?”

“Excellent idea, Doctor. Agent Barton will be on standby just outside the cell area,” said Fury, making it official. “I will have all non-necessary personnel and civilians evacuate the carrier. They should be safe enough in the island bunkers. We should be ready in about 20 minutes, Dr. Banner,” said Fury. “Let’s do this.”

~***~

It took almost half an hour for all of them to get into position. Bruce was a little late getting to the cell as he’d stayed in his room to meditate a bit, trying to fix their purpose in his mind. Thor had tried to convince Jane to stay in her room, but she was having none of that. Natasha finally suggested she could guard Jane and they would watch from a distance. Cap and Stark were the two best equipped to handle the Hulk should he break free and their plan was to herd him up and out of the ship where he could run off his anger. Fury and Hawkeye were stationed behind them, with Hawkeye up on a stairway with a clear shot and his tranquilizing arrow nocked. 

Cap closed the cell door and stood by the speaker so he could talk with them. Tony slammed down his face plate and took a few steps back. Bruce looked over to Thor and asked quietly, “Ready?”

Thor nodded, slapping him gently on the back and then backed away to give him some room.

Usually when the Other Guy took over, Bruce would feel a burning wave pass through him that started in his chest and spread out over his extremities. His vision would go red and his hearing would slowly fade. In the beginning, he would black out totally and not remember anything. Eventually, it became almost like a dream state where he could sometimes see and hear things and direct the Hulk to do the right thing. This time, he clung to the idea that they needed to give blood for a good cause. As his control slipped and the metamorphosis began, he could feel the rage build…and fear. 

It had never occurred to him before that fear could be the root cause of the rage, but since Steve had mentioned it, he was looking for those feelings and he found them. And locking them up in a cell was triggering that fear of being held captive. Bruce tried to reach out to assure his alter ego, but Hulk was beyond listening. The emotions swamped them both and Bruce lost his grip on reality as the Hulk threw himself at the walls of the cell.

Both Thor and Cap tried to talk to the Hulk, but either he wasn’t paying attention, or he just didn’t care. Bellowing with rage, he pounded the walls around him. He didn’t attack Thor, but several times the Asgardian found himself being flung against the wall or to the floor when he got too close to the green behemoth. Hulk finally launched himself at the door area and shattered it. With one bound he was over Rogers, past Ironman and Fury and out the door. Hawkeye never had a chance to release even one arrow. 

SHIELD agents had been stationed at various hallways with the one door leading out left open and inviting, but for some reason Hulk didn’t go that way. Bruce later thought that perhaps it was his own concentration on Coulson that led the Hulk to travel familiar halls to the ICU. He had smashed through doors and walls, scattering personnel like bowling pins and then finally skidded to a stop as he rounded the last corner and found himself facing an elegantly dressed woman bravely holding a gun up to his face. It took him a second to recognize the threat and another to hear Bruce’s thoughts identifying the woman as a non-combatant that he should not harm. But the gun was still a danger so he batted it away and it was just his inability to curb his strength that sent the woman flying at the same time. 

He was finally faced with the reason the woman had drawn her gun. Six-year-old Lily Coulson had been visiting her daddy when they were told they needed to evacuate. They hadn’t been quick enough and found themselves in lockdown when the Hulk had broken free and set off alarms all over the carrier. Lily did what she usually did when faced with someone new. She said hello.

Hulk hadn’t really been faced with such a situation before. He knew instinctively that this was a child and to protect her. He wasn’t sure why he’d come to this place, but there were people coming to get him and maybe he needed to protect her from them too. He was about to pick her up when Bruce once again broke into his thoughts with a panicked “NO” screaming in his mind. He was too strong and she was too fragile. She was in no danger and he should not touch her.

He had just made up his mind to find a way out of this metal prison, when Captain America arrived on the scene with Thor close on his heels. Their super-abilities had allowed them to outrun their companions and they had ordered the rest of the armed agents in the area to stay behind the corner, hoping they could calm the beast and bring Banner back. They’d have to find a way to try this again.

Hulk was torn with indecision. Lily spoke up again. “I have a new kitty,” she said, holding up a little basket and a small, fluffy pink stuffed kitty. “See?”

Cap whispered to Thor, “Talk to him and get his attention. I will try to get closer to the child. If he moves, I’ll get myself between them.”

Thor nodded and stepped back from Captain America, giving him room to move. “Please, friend Hulk. We do not wish you harm. We wish only to take a blood sample. This needle is much smaller than you…it will only be a very slight pain. You have withstood much greater pain in battle.”

Hulk turned his attention to Thor and Cap backed up against the wall, sliding closer to Lily. However, she spoke up again, “Oh, my daddy has needles in him too. They don’t hurt him. Nanny said so.”

She moved closer to the Hulk who swung himself back around to listen to her. Inside, Bruce could feel the rage beginning to subside. He concentrated on their needs. It would be so little pain to trade for something good.

“Everyone should do what the doctor says. I’ll let you hold kitty if you like,” she said, holding out her basket again.

Hulk sat down and reached for the kitten with one great hand. He held out the other to Thor. Not one to hesitate when luck was going his way, Thor pulled out the implements Banner had drilled him with in practice. They had expected the Hulk’s skin to be tough, so it was a large needle, attached to a small tube that was taped into a large glass vial. It took a couple of stabs to get the needle into one of the big veins that pulsed in his hands and Hulk turned to snarl at Thor more than once, but Lily would speak up and talk about her kitty and her daddy and Hulk would be distracted again. 

Cap had moved next to the girl, getting down on one knee to make himself smaller and less threatening to Hulk. Lily finally noticed him. “Are you the real Captain America?” she asked with a little awe in her voice.

It almost made Steve smile. Her dad had said his name with almost the same tone. Of course, she would have recognized him. “Yes, I am,” he told her. “We’re here to try to help your daddy.”

She carefully set her little basket down and threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you,” she whispered to him. “He said you were a special friend. I know you can make him better.”

“The doctors will make him better. I’m just here to help them. They’re the real heroes here.”

Thor withdrew the needle when the vial was filled. Hawkeye slipped around the corner to take it and hustled the precious item away. “We are finished, my large green friend. Come, let me take you up into the sunshine. It is a beautiful day.”

He backed away from Hulk, and swept an arm back towards the hall from which they’d entered. Hulk stood up and then leaned over, gently handing the tiny toy back to its owner.

“See, I told you it didn’t hurt,” she said. “Good bye, Mr. Green Man!”

Thor was ordering everyone to move away and stand down, as Hulk turned to him. Then the behemoth turned back to waggle his fingers in a goodbye salute to the little girl before lumbering after the Thunder God.

Steve stood up, picking up Lily at the same time. “You were very brave,” he told her. “I think you are a lot like your daddy.”

The Director was first around the corner, immediately going to give a hand up to the still-somewhat-dazed nanny who had wisely held still and let the Avengers do their jobs. She glared at him. “You know I would do anything for Lily, but I’m still putting in for hazard pay, Director.”

He smiled at her. “Well earned, Agent.”

“Perhaps the agent should be looked at by the doctors, just in case,” Steve suggested. “Lily and I could liberate some ice cream from the mess hall while we wait.”

“A sound idea, Captain,” Fury said, helping the nanny to a chair at the nurse’s station. “I think we all deserve ice cream.”

~***~

Bruce woke to full alertness on the beach with the surf tickling his bare toes, scratchy sand under his back and the sun warming him all over, with enough of a breeze to keep from feeling overheated. He looked down to find the stretchy purple pants still on him, although sagging a great deal, and the mighty Thor sitting next to him. Not far away, Captain America was wading barefoot in the water with Lily Coulson who was using his shield as a surfboard. Natasha and Jane were sitting on a blanket with the nanny agent a little further up the beach. 

“How are you feeling, friend Banner?” asked Thor.

“The usual. Tired with a monstrous headache. But at least I’m not alone and naked this time and there are even some pretty girls around.”

“You did well. Your control grows.”

Bruce considered a bruise and split lip on the demi-god. “Yes, I can see that,” he said dryly. 

Thor grinned, “Jane has forgiven you already. As for me, there is nothing to forgive so do not think of asking for it. The doctors are attending to your blood and following your directions as to its treatment. They will have it ready soon.”

Bruce lay back in the sand and closed his eyes to let the sun bake his headache and sore muscles away. “You were right. He’s scared. The cell…it was a bad idea. Next time, out in the open, so he has less to fear.”

“And less for him to break. Directory Fury is not pleased that his holding cell does not appear to hold anyone. Tony Stark is also…I think Hawkeye said the correct word was miffed?”

Bruce laughed. So many different personalities and yet, as a team, they were unbeatable. So far, anyway. “Do we have anything to drink?” he asked, cracking one eye open.

“There is something called a picnic basket that I believe the Black Widow has been protecting. Perhaps if you ask her most pitifully, she will release it from her defense.”

Bruce sat up and, then gathering the waistband of his pants to keep them from gravity’s pull, he stood up carefully on shaky legs. “I will do my best, friend. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll tell her that the Big Guy will ask next.”

~***~

Director Fury didn’t smile all that often and usually when he did, it wasn’t a nice smile. Mostly, he had the kind of smile you’d see on a croc before it snapped down on your head. This time, however, it was a genuine smile of pleasure as Fury lounged in the big bedside chair. Agent Coulson was almost able to sit up on his own and was having his first solid meal.

“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to smuggle in a nice steak for me, would you?” he asked Fury, his voice still a little raspy from the breathing tube they’d only recently removed.

Fury shook his head and glanced over at Banner, “Doctors’ orders. Be a man and suck it up, Phil.”

Coulson stirred the oatmeal they’d given him and arched an eyebrow at his boss. “Puns, Director? They’re beneath you.”

It had taken a few days longer than they expected, but Steve kept telling everyone that people weren’t rats and of course, it was going to take time. Bruce had watched the numbers rising and taken heart as the pain and sound stimulus responses increased. The fanboy in Coulson was probably never going to get over the fact that he’d come back to consciousness with Captain America standing guard over him, telling him not to fight the breathing tube.

There was no telling what his response was going to be when he found out that he’d had some of his hero’s blood running through his veins. Or that Steve was deeply envious of Coulson having a daughter.

As Bruce predicted, the healing was progressing at a faster rate than normal, but there was still nothing to indicate the blood had affected him in any other way. “As far as I can tell,” he told Fury, “there are no signs of any superpowers beyond what he already had.”

That got him a genuine grin from the Director too.

His concerns had now turned to thoughts of what this new knowledge meant to the medical world. It wasn’t something they could easily produce and make available to the public. Both he and Captain America were more valuable to the Earth as a whole in their present positions, as protectors. What would happen if this information got out? Would someone be mad enough to try to capture them both and try to repeat the experiment? Or would they be willing to try this again for someone else on their team? Could they help Tony and if they did, would he be IronMan anymore? He didn’t even want to think about the possibility of the long-term effect on Coulson. Testing had shown the elements they’d injected had done their work and gone, leaving no detectible residue, however, the ‘what ifs’ lingered in his mind.

The treatment and, indeed, the entire process, left him with more questions than answers, but the rest of his team had only been overjoyed with the results and seemingly, thought nothing more of it. However, even if the team hadn’t, Bruce had seen Fury looking at him and he was fairly certain the Director had contemplated it. He had reminded Banner that he was free to go, but would be greatly appreciated if he chose to stay. Bruce told him he’d be grateful to stay as long as SHIELD could keep the military from claiming him and Fury had given his personal guarantee with an ‘over my dead body’ kind of promise.

Frankly, he’d had enough of dead bodies, but there was an appeal to an adopted family who really knew him. They were strong enough to be able to handle his dark side without holding it against him. 

Damned if he didn’t kind of like them for all their quirkiness too.

The end.


End file.
